Over the last three years I’ve made a few visits to Albany’s Sunrise Park while the place was being rebuilt to better serve the neighborhood. Last week, on my way somewhere else, I stopped by again and was impressed by what it has become.
Did they ever complete the renovation of Sunrise Park, I was wondering one day last week. So, riding along on Queen Avenue, on my way somewhere else, I turned right on Thurston Street to take a look.
Albany’s Sunrise Park is interesting for at least two reasons. First, it’s being renovated specifically to help the surrounding neighborhood, one of Albany’s poorest. And second, the process of getting it done illustrates the insanity of state and federal rules on “wetlands.”
The bike and I took a detour down Thurston Street from Queen Avenue this week. And as expected, the Albany city project to do something for the Sunrise Park neighborhood was well under way.
Sunrise Park and sections of two major streets — Hill and Oak — are about to be rebuilt, totaling more than $3 million in city public works spending in South Albany this year.
If you’re wondering what happened to the long-gestating plans to renovate Albany’s Sunrise Park, wonder no more. The city parks department hopes to call for bids on the project by the first week of February.
At Sunrise Park, discovering a ‘wetland’
On Sunday the bike and I made a detour through Sunrise Park off Southeast Thurston Street. The visit reminded me of the flap over “wetlands” that delayed the reconstruction of this park several years ago.
Tags: Albany parks, Sunrise Park, wetlands, wetlands bank, wetlands mitigation